Vulnerability
by UltimateParadox
Summary: A surprise visit leaves Soubi with the thought that vulnerability comes in many forms, including himself, Ritsuka, and a kitten he really didn't care about.


**Vulnerability**

Soubi was ever thankful he had been pulling the brush away from the canvas when the sharp knocks on his door resounded through his apartment, making his whole arm flinch. He bit down on his cigarette's filter in irritation before letting up on it. He called out, "Just a minute," as he set the paintbrush to the side and pulled his cellphone from his back pocket. He frowned.

So he hadn't missed any messages. Who in the world was visiting him? It couldn't be Kio—even though the man never alerted him with his estimated times of arrival, he never bothered knocking unless he knew for certain that the door was locked, and even then there were loud whines punctuating the silence between the beats of his fists on the door—and he wasn't expecting any other company until much later. He stuffed the phone back into the confines of his pants and opened the door a crack.

"Ritsuka?" Soubi nearly gasped, the cigarette only barely staying in his mouth. He knew the boy had gone to visit Yuiko after school and Soubi had told him to give him a call when he was done so he could see him. He hadn't expected Ritsuka to forgo the pleasantries and just appear at his doorstep.

"And Yuiko!" a voice called from a little more behind the door and Soubi inched it open further. Sure enough, the bubbly girl was also standing at his doorstep. Soubi had no distaste for the girl, even thought she was cute (though, not as cute as Ritsuka, of course), but when Soubi saw what was in her arms, he felt a shadow of dread pass over him.

Ritsuka followed Soubi's line of vision and then looked up at him with such an expression that the dread grew thicker as he realized he'd resign himself to anything Ritsuka would ask of him, not that he wouldn't have done it, anyway. "Soubi! It's hurt and can't walk very well. Can you help it?"

The kitten mewed pitifully in Yuiko's cradling arms.

With a heavy sigh and a cloying smile, Soubi opened the door fully. "I can do my very best, Ritsuka, Yuiko-chan."

Yuiko cheered and raced into the apartment with Ritsuka's reserved footsteps following. Soubi found he didn't regret his decision if that peaceful smile on the boy's face was his reward.

"One moment, Yuiko-chan," Soubi suddenly called out. "Let me move my project for school, then we can get started with the best light."

"You're painting something?" asked Ritsuka over Yuiko's reply. "Of what?"

Soubi grinned around his cigarette before he pulled it from his lips and stubbed it out on an ashtray on the edge of small side table. Several butts were already piling up and he made a mental note to empty it later. Ritsuka's interest was something he coveted and it was pleasing to have it now. "The professor gave me the subject of 'vulnerability'."

"Soubi-san!" Yuiko cried. Both he and Ritsuka looked at her suddenly exclamation. The poor kitten seemed to just barely be in the girl's grasp as she stared at the canvas lying flat on the floor. "It's so pretty! Did you paint this?"

The painting was not quite finished, but the swarm of butterflies, all pastels against the dark background, dotted the canvas like stars in the sky. "Butterflies are fragile creatures, aren't they?" Soubi murmured. He bent down and gathered his supplies and paints in one long arm. "So vulnerable to the clutches of humans, but they're also so flexible against the cruelties of nature. I wonder when my fascination with them started."

He heard Ritsuka offer to help move the painting and when he turned around, he caught Ritsuka leaning it against the wall with painstaking care.

"Let's take a look at the little guy, then," Soubi mumbled, stowing his displeasure somewhere far from the two children in his apartment. They didn't need to know that cats, the sneaky creatures, bothered him. He also had a sneaking suspicion Ritsuka wouldn't really care about it, either; the boy wouldn't just leave the kitten to suffer, injured and alone.

He hadn't expected Yuiko to drop the kitten straight into his hands and Soubi grimaced at the tiny pinpricks of claws poking into his skin, the terrified animal frightened of everything. Its little body trembled in his hold and he was reminded of how easy it was to rob a living creature of life. One of its furry paws kept touching down on his hand before immediately pulling itself up as the kitten fought to keep its balance. He motioned for the kids to pull the cheap kitchen table further into the room and when they had, he gently placed the kitten on the surface. It wobbled and scooted back towards the table's center with a few high mews.

"Yuiko-chan, could you do me a favor? Under the sink in the bathroom there are two first aid kits. Could you bring me the smaller one, please?" asked Soubi. He put on his charming smile, though he doubted he needed it to convince the girl into doing a few small favors.

Ritsuka had leaned forward onto the table, careful to watch his weight on the furniture, and was staring at the little kitten, all white and black-spotted fluff and teeth and claws and vocals, with such poorly hidden concern that Soubi even began to think that maybe the kitten wasn't so bad, if it had Ritsuka so involved. There was also wonderment there, a marvel Soubi didn't understand.

"I thought you were going to Yuiko's house after school," Soubi said suddenly. Ritsuka's gaze moved away from the kitten with a blink as he looked at his adopted Fighter.

"Mm! We went for a walk when we found her. Yuiko didn't have anything at home, only Band-aids."

"Her?"

Ritsuka nodded. "I checked on the way here."

Soubi wasn't exactly sure that his response to that would have been eloquent or appropriate, but Yuiko's arrival with the tiny aluminum box saved his breath as she exclaimed quite happily that she'd found it under a tub of something called Vaseline. If Ritsuka understood any implications of that, Soubi didn't know, because he steadfastly did not look at him.

"Thank you, Yuiko-chan," Soubi said instead, taking the box and popping open the lid. Springs kept it upright as he rifled through it, pulled out a small tube and a roll of bandages, and set them on the table side. Even the kitten's fright couldn't keep away its infant curiosity and it stretched out its neck in order to smell the items. Soubi shooed it away with one last item, a little package for a wipe, and closed the kit with a tinny clack.

"What's all that for, Soubi-san?" Yuiko asked. She pulled off the cap to the tube and smelled the contents. She wrinkled her nose but didn't say anything.

"It looks like its paw is hurt, but it's nothing more than a scratch. It'll heal up just fine. All of this will just help it heal up faster." Soubi explained as he ripped open the top of the package and pulled the wipe out. "This wipe is wet and has something in it to clean out the scratch. Kitten-san isn't going to like that, so please keep it still for me, okay?"

Ritsuka acted before Yuiko and gently braced his hands around the kitten's body, one around the front to nudge the injured appendage forward. There was something in the boy's eyes, a darkness under the kind concern, and Soubi had a hunch as to what was bothering him.

"Thank you, Ritsuka," Soubi said with soft tones. He wiped at the kitten's paw and was pleasantly surprised that the kitten didn't react as badly as he had expected. With a quick glance, he wondered if it wasn't because the hand on the kitten's back was using its thumb to rub circles in the fur. Quickly, he disposed of the wipe.

"This," Soubi continued to explain to Yuiko as he took the tube from the girl's hand. "is Neobotic ointment. It helps keep away infections." He squeezed the tube until a dollop no larger than a raindrop rested on his fingertip. "Ritsuka, please hold her still again. This might hurt it a little bit, but only for a second."

"Right," Ritsuka replied quietly, possibly speeding up his little comforting circles. A tiny purring sound reached Soubi's ears, but he decided to ignore it. The children had brought the kitten to him for medical treatment, not cuddling.

"Soubi-san, how do you know how to treat animals?" Yuiko asked.

"I don't," was his answer before he dabbed the medicine onto the kitten's paw. It squirmed some more, but Ritsuka was good at keeping it still. He really didn't have any idea with veterinary tactics, but he knew more than enough about scrapes than he figured he should.

"Soubi, won't it just lick that off? It'll get sick!" Ritsuka protested a moment too late.

Instead of verbally answering him, Soubi held up the roll of bandages. "The final step, Yuiko-chan, is to prevent anything from hindering the healing process. The bandages not only prevent outside threats from getting into the wound, but the kitten can't get at it, either." Ritsuka raised the kitten's injured paw a millimeter or so higher as Soubi unraveled the roll and wrapped it around the tiny injury before he asked for Yuiko to fetch the scissors and tape from the end table in his bedroom.

She found them next to a French tower of beer cans, a present from Kio that Soubi hadn't yet trashed, but he withheld all explanations for the pure delight of seeing Ritsuka scowl at him in something that looked like resignation. He smiled.

"There, all done! Kitten-san has to do the rest of the healing on her own," said Soubi. He stood back as Yuiko darted forward to examine his handiwork.

"Wow, Soubi-san! I only use Band-aids at my house. I didn't know there was so much more you could do!"

Soubi laughed. The scars beneath his own bandages itched something terrible.

* * *

><p>"Bye, Ritsuka-kun! Bye, Soubi-san!" Yuiko called from her bedroom window, fluffy kitten in her arm as she waved her free one. Ritsuka waved back, just a little, before they began to walk away. Streetlights were just beginning to flicker to life, creating snaking paths of ever growing light ahead of them.<p>

Ritsuka was quiet and Soubi was quieter, but he finally swallowed his indecision and looked down at the boy. "You recognized the methods I used to treat you when I was helping the cat," he said, not so much of an accusation as an acknowledgement. "Why did it bother you so much?"

"I...I really wanted to help that kitten. It was hurt and defenseless."

Soubi nodded, reaching out to rest a hand between the cat ears on Ritsuka's head. He felt them twitch to to the side a little to accommodate him. "Most baby animals are defenseless. It's just nature."

"Does that desire to help something so bad...Do you feel it, when you see me after Mom..." He couldn't finish a single sentence, but Soubi liked to think it wasn't because he was college-aged that he could piece the boy's frantic thoughts into something legible.

"All the time. I see your cuts and bruises and I always want to help my cute Ritsuka."

Ritsuka was quiet again. They remained in the silence until they reached the Aoyagi home and Ritsuka walked through the gate, asking him to go home. Soubi smiled and bent down for a good-bye kiss, which Ritsuka allowed with only a slightly less furious blush than previous times, but when he turned to leave, he heard the boy say, "Next time I get hurt, I guess I won't be so hard on you. Sorry. I'll let you help."

"...Thank you, Ritsuka," Soubi said, walking away.

He didn't really want there to be a next time.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Haha, what is this. This is plotless. I just wanted a cute thing that turned into something a little more angsty.**

**I don't expect to write too much for Loveless, but I'll pop by every once in a while. I got some Pokemon and Tsubasa Chronicle to get to work on.**


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